Readers of The New York Times’ Sunday print edition couldn’t help but notice a full-page ad in the paper last weekend that began with the sentence “This is Portland.” It goes on to say, “We’re a place of dualities that are never polarities. Two sides of the same coin that keeps landing right on its edge.” The ad appeared in a few other newspapers as well and it’s part of a Travel Portland campaign, designed to promote tourism in the city. It has elicited mixed reactions among Portlanders.

We dig into the ad campaign — what it says and what it doesn’t say — and the larger effort to rehabilitate Portland’s reputation. Our guests are Portland State University Associate Professor Lisa Bates, Portland Mercury News Editor Alex Zielinski and Amy Lewin, vice president of strategic communications for the Portland Business Alliance.